Bohemian San Francisco: Its restaurants and their most famous recipes—The elegant art of dining.Edwords, Clarence E. (Clarence Edgar)
History
Bohemian San Francisco: Its restaurants and their most famous recipes—The elegant art of dining.
Edwords, Clarence E. (Clarence Edgar)
Cooking; Hotels -- California -- San Francisco
It is really something to elicit wonder when one considers the
possibilities of a table d'hote dinner in some of the less expensive
restaurants. Take, for instance, the Buon Gusto, in Broadway. This
restaurant boasts a good chef, and the food is the finest the market
affords. Here is served a six course dinner for fifty cents, and the
menu card is typical of this class of restaurants. What is provided is
shown by the following taken from the bill of fare as it was served us:
Hor d'ouvres--four kinds; five kinds of salad; two kinds of soup; seven
kinds of fish; four kinds of paste; broiled spring chicken; green salad
with French dressing; ice cream or rum omelet; mixed fruits; demi tasse.
With this is served a pint of good table wine.
As one goes up with the scale of prices in the restaurants that charge
$1, $1.25, $1.50, $2, $2.50, and $3 for their dinners it will be found
that the difference lies chiefly in the variety from which to choose and
from the surroundings and service.
Take, for example, the following typical menu for a dollar dinner,
served at the Fior d'Italia, and compare it with the fifty-cent dinner
just mentioned:
Salami and anchovies; salad; chicken broth with Italian paste; fillet of
English sole, sauce tartare; spaghetti or ravioli; escallop of veal,
caper sauce; French peas with butter; roast chicken with chiffon salad;
ice cream or fried cream; assorted fruits and cakes; demi tasse. Wine
with this dinner is extra.
Now going a step up in the scale we come to the $1.50 dinner as follows:
Anchovies, salami (note that it is the same as above); combination
salad; tortellini di Bologna soup; striped bass a la Livornaise; ravioli
a la Genoese and spaghetti with mushrooms; chicken saute, Italian style,
with green peas; squab with lettuce; zabaione; fruit; cheese; coffee.
Wine is extra.
Let us now look at the menu of the $3.50 dinner, without wine:
Pate 'de foie gras--truffles on toast; salad; olives; Alice Fallstaff;
Italian ham "Prosciutto;" soup--semino Italiani with Brodo de Cappone;
pompano a la papillote; tortellini with fungi a funghetto; fritto misto;
spring chicken saute; Carcioffi all'Inferno; Capretto al Forno con
Insallata; omelet Celestine; fruit; cheese, and black coffee.
This dinner must be ordered three days in advance.
These menus will give a good idea of the different classes of dinners
that can be obtained. Between are dinners to suit all tastes and
pocketbooks. If you wish to go beyond these there is no limit except the
amount of money you have. If but the food value be taken into
consideration then one will be as well pleased with the fifty-cent
dinner as he will be at the higher priced meals, but if light and music
and brilliant surroundings are desired, then one must pay for them as
well as for the meal he eats.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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